Photo by Bill Banaszewski.

Follow the equation. Summer equals vacation. Vacation equals recreation. Recreation equals fishing.

OK, so the rhyme fell apart, but not the idea. North Carolina's tourism industry used to have a slogan, "Variety Vacationland" that isn't far from the truth as far as fishing in the state is concerned.

Oh, is there variety. In a long day's drive, you can go from dropping a bloodworm down next to a pier post in search of a spot or croaker to dropping a jigging spoon 50 feet below the surface of a clear mountain lake in search of a walleye. Or you can tie on a tiny dry fly barely the size of a mosquito in a babbling mountain trout stream in hopes of fooling a native brook trout, then the next day, fish for striped bass with baitfish bigger than the trout you targeted.

North Carolina is blessed with borders encompassing mountain ranges up to a mile in elevation, to hundreds of miles of sandy coastline, plus everything in between. And there is no better time to go exploring -- with rod and reel in hand, of course -- than during the summer, when the family vacation can be easily organized to provide plenty of time on the water.

Just as important, the water is spread out enough to be readily available, within an easy morning's drive to most residents of the Tar Heel State. Here are a handful of ideas for families who like to make fishing a part of their summer vacations.

GREAT SMOKIES/FONTANA LAKE
The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the nation's busiest park, attracting around 9 million visitors per year. Quite a few of these visitors come for the wide range of camping and fishing opportunities.

The park, which straddles the North Carolina/Tennessee border, has more than a dozen organized group campsites that can accommodate a party of up to eight persons, plus 100 more backcountry sites and shelters. Group campsites can be reserved by calling (800) 365-2267, backcountry sites by calling 865-436-1297.

Some of the backcountry sites can put fishermen within easy hiking distance of some of the park's 2,115 miles of streams -- most of which hold good populations of wild brown and rainbow trout. A handful of high-country streams hold native brook trout, which cannot be kept as part of the park's five-fish daily creel limit. Park officials have booklets and maps that show locations and access points for most of the streams in the park, which covers more than a half-million acres. It's important that you check regulations on the stream you plan to fish.

Fishermen can use only single-hook, artificial lures in the park. A fishing license from either Tennessee or North Carolina -- but no trout stamp -- is required for fishing in the park.

Access to much of the park's blue-ribbon trout streams is by boat only from landings on 11,685-acre Fontana Lake, the product of a massive dam that impounds the Little Tennessee, Nantahala and Tuckaseegee rivers, as well as streams that drain the park.

Another park attraction that has been recently added is a herd of elk, relocated between 2001 and 2003 by the park service to try to rebuild the native herd that vanished in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Approximately 50 elk were introduced into the Cataloochie area of the park, and they can occasionally be seen and heard by park visitors.

Fontana Lake, known as "the jewel of the Smokies" is a deep, clear lake with excellent populations of smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, white bass, walleyes, crappie and sunfish.